The present invention relates to cementing operations and, more particularly, to the use of cementing compositions comprising water, cement kiln dust (“CKD”), vitrified shale, zeolite, and/or amorphous silica, that are prepared by utilizing a packing volume fraction, and associated methods of use.
Cementing compositions are commonly utilized in a variety of subterranean operations. Subterranean applications that may involve cementing compositions include, but are not limited to, primary cementing, remedial cementing, and drilling operations. For example, cement compositions are used in primary cementing operations whereby pipe strings such as casings and liners are cemented in well bores. In performing primary cementing, cement compositions are pumped into the annular space between the walls of a well bore and the exterior surface of the pipe string disposed therein. The cement composition is permitted to set in the annular space, thereby forming an annular sheath of hardened substantially impermeable cement therein that substantially supports and positions the pipe string in the well bore and bonds the exterior surface of the pipe string to the walls of the well bore. Cement compositions are also used in plugging and abandonment operations as well as in remedial cementing operations such as plugging permeable zones or fractures in well bores, plugging cracks and holes in pipe strings, and the like. Cementing compositions also may be used in surface applications, for example, construction cementing.
Cementing compositions used heretofore commonly comprise Portland cement. Portland cement generally is a major component of the cost for the cementing compositions. To reduce the cost of such cementing compositions, other solid particulate components may be included in the cementing composition in addition to, or in place of, the Portland cement. The resulting combination of multiple solid particulate materials in the cementing compositions can result in a “settling effect,” in which different sized particulate materials will settle separately at different speeds. This settling of the solids in a cement composition may result in defective cementing procedures and failure of the set cement to provide zonal isolation. Thus, among other things, there are needs for an improved cementing composition for well cements which can be utilized without resulting in settling of solid particulates.